Go Go Plant 2: A Quirky & Tricky Sequel

Well, firstly, the complete lack of a storyline was one of the major faults of the first game and this has been fixed by the sequel, if not very effectively so. We start off with a cutscene which shows a certain Mr. Twister fall asleep while watching a basketball game and waking up when he beings to transform into a potted plant. Why the transformation? Because he was suffering from the after effects of a nuclear attack and had forgotten to take his pills. You are then encouraged to take up the role of a potted Mr. Twister and make your way across to the drug store to get some more pills. Stories cannot get any more depressing in their mediocrity than that.

As in the first game, you have two options for gameplay. The first option is the Story Mode, in which you’re subjected to the above “story”. The other mode is the Arcade Mode, in which you have to survive for five levels and see how high a score you can actually get. Once you select a mode, you get a choice of two routes. Route A is the one that is always available, while Route B gets unlocked only after Story Mode on Route A has been completed. After this you have a brief music selection screen, which we will get into in the Audio section, and then we have the tutorial.

The controls are exactly the same as in the first game and so are their functions, so nothing has changed there. The left arrow key releases a net into the air to catch money and points, the up arrow key makes the plant release a fan into the air which allows it to levitate and fly above obstacles, the down arrow key allows it to drill into the ground and go under obstacles, and the right arrow key allows it to punch (only moveable, remember) obstacles out of the way and into oblivion. You gain points by catching them (obviously) and punching objects to oblivion.

The variety of objects is still pretty much the same too. There are only three to four types of money and the destructible objects range from winged insects and jelly to cranes, walls and most curiously, human hearts. The indestructible objects are pretty easy to identify in this game, because practically everything with spikes on it is indestructible.

The difficulty level of this game is slightly below that of the first game because the distances between objects are greater and you get more time to switch between actions and plan your next move. The game is still pretty challenging though and you have to be on your toes all the time to stay aware of which challenge is coming up next and what to do with it. Getting flustered and pushing the wrong arrow key is a pretty common occurrence, especially early in the game. There are a couple of tips that can make your passage through the game easier though. Firstly, as soon as the game begins, start drilling into the ground and you will come across a secret treasure worth 5000 points. Secondly, all spikes marked with an X are destructible, so keep a look out for those and kill them when you can.

The biggest disappointment in Go Go Plant 2 is that it fails to address any of the major faults that its predecessor had. You still have no checkpoints, no real breaks between levels and no variations per try. Therefore, it becomes repetitive just as quickly as the first game thanks to the lack of variations and you’re bound to be really annoyed when you’re far into the game and are foiled just because you touched something and then have to go all the way back again and go through everything that you’d already crossed before. The “replayability”, therefore, is still very little.

There hasn’t been any change in the graphics, and that is a good thing because the developers haven’t tried to fix what isn’t broken. The graphics are still very colorful with the colors themselves being very bright and vivid and the items and objects are quite well detailed and easy on the eye. You also have brightness settings in this game, which is a useful addition. All in all the graphics do a great job of retaining and reinforcing the quirkiness of the original concept of the game.

The game recommends headphones to begin with, which isn’t exactly a promising sign. The menu music is still the arcade-style music that the first game had, but the in-game music, titled Caruso-Santa Lucia is quite different. It is a kind of opera music that compliments the game’s quirky nature extremely well and is on a pretty decent loop so you won’t get sick of it as quickly as the arcade music of the earlier game. You can also unlock a second track if you reach 200,000 points in the arcade mode.

Go Go Plant 2 is obviously entertaining and a typical quirky Mausland title on par with their other shark games, but one can’t help but come away with a slight sense of disappointment at the fact that the basic improvements that would help make it a really great game haven’t been made yet. All in all, you can expect a good two hours of fun from this game but, sadly, no more than that. We decided to mark this game down from it's predecessor due to the lack of major improvement.